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Mama June is starting weight loss injections after gaining 130 pounds

June “Mama June” Shannon is getting her weight back under control.

Almost a decade after she underwent a gastric sleeve surgery and dropped more than 100 pounds, the reality star has announced her plan to start using semaglutide — the generic form of Ozempic and Wegovy — to continue her weight loss journey.

“Since [the surgery], I kinda kept off the weight. I stayed at like 130, 140, 150 lbs.,” she explained in a social media video she filmed Monday but posted Tuesday. “Well, I have noticed over the last, like, year and a half, that I’ve really put on weight.”

Mama June announced Tuesday that she started taking semaglutide to lose weight. Instagram/@mamajune
Semaglutide is the generic version of Ozempic and Wegovy. Instagram/@mamajune
The reality star said she gained 120 to 130 pounds after losing more than 100 pounds thanks to her gastric sleeve surgery in 2016. Mama June/TikTok

Mama June, 44, went on to reveal she gained all the weight back after a very stressful year taking care of her daughter, Anna “Chickadee” Cardwell, who died of cancer in December 2023.

“With the stress of everything going in, eating out, not eating right, just all kinds of stuff, I have packed on about 120, 130 pounds,” she noted.

She said after months of trying to eat less and cut back on eating out, she failed to shrink her waistline. “I decided to go with semaglutide a couple months ago through my main doctor,” she confirmed.

The “Mama June: Road to Redemption” star promised to update fans on her weekly progress and specifically mentioned that she plans to pay more attention to how her clothes fit than the number on the scale. Currently, she said she fits into extra-large and plus-sized clothing.

Mama June said she gained the weight after taking care of her daughter, Anna “Chickadee” Cardwell, who died of cancer in December 2023. Getty Images for WEtv
She reasoned that the stress of her daughter’s diagnosis mixed with not eating well helped her weight balloon. Jamie McCarthy

After stepping back to show off her figure, “belly and all,” Mama June recorded her husband, Justin Shroud, injecting her with her first dose of the medication.

“Come along with me as I go through this journey,” she captioned her instagram post. “I know a lot of y’all are on similar journeys so lets do it together.”

“Tell me what your experiences are pros and cons and everything,” she encouraged her fans. “I will be updating every week how things are going as I know I’m not the only person that has struggled since having a bariatric surgery.”


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The “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo” alum promised to update her fans weekly on her progress. Jonathan Leibson
She said she plans to pay less attention to the number on the scale and more to how she feels throughout the process. Getty Images for Extra

The “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo” alum chatted with Page Six in 2018 and revealed she felt more confident after gaining 25 pounds following her life-changing surgery.

“I told people that in the first season I felt like, even going through it, I felt like I was too small,” she noted. “Now that I’m 185, 190 due depending on what time of the month is, I feel confident.”

She added that she did not want to reach 200 pounds, which she has since done.

Mama June finished her video announcement by showing her husband, Justin Shroud, injecting her for the first time. juneshannon/Instagram
The former pageant mom said last year that she did not want to take weight loss medications due to the possible side effects. Instagram/@mamajune

Last year, Mama June explained she preferred not to try any weight loss medications because of the potentially harsh side effects, which include nausea, fatigue and dizziness.

She is far from the first star to reveal they resorted to the type 2 diabetes medication in order to lose weight.

Sharon Osbourne, Chelsea Handler, Tracy Morgan and Rebel Wilson are just a handful of the famous faces who have admitted to turning to the drug.